The present invention relates generally to stabilization of components within hard disk drives and related methods.
A disk drive is a device used to store information in a computing environment. In a disk drive, data is generally recorded on planar, round, rotating surfaces (which are commonly referred to as disks, discs, or platters). There are several types of disk drives, including optical disk drives, floppy disk drives, and hard disk drives. Nowadays, hard disk drives tend to be most common. Strictly speaking, “drive” refers to a device distinct from its medium, such as a tape drive and its tape, or a floppy disk drive and its floppy disk. A hard disk drive (sometimes referred to as a HDD), also referred to as a hard drive, hard disk, or fixed disk drive, is a non-volatile storage device that stores digitally encoded data on rapidly rotating platters with magnetic surfaces. Early hard disk drives had removable media; however, a HDD today is typically an encased unit with fixed media.
A typical hard disk drive includes a head disk assembly (HDA) and a printed circuit board assembly (PCBA) attached to a disk drive base of the HDA. The HDA typically includes at least one magnetic disk, a spindle motor for rotating the disk, and a head stack assembly (HSA) having an actuator assembly with at least one transducer head, typically several, for reading and writing data from the disk. The PCBA includes a servo control system in the form of a disk controller for generating servo control signals. The HSA is controllably positioned in response to the generated servo control signals from the disk controller. In so doing, the attached heads are moved relative to tracks disposed upon the disk. The heads are typically distanced from the magnetic disk by a gaseous cushion—so that they are said to “fly” over the disk. Thus, it is important that the position of the heads be well-controlled for proper reading and writing from the disk.
In order to facilitate effective operation of hard disk drives, internal components of a hard disk drive, including the head disk assembly (HDA) and a printed circuit board assembly (PCBA), are typically enclosed within and appropriately secured to a metallic housing. Use of metallic materials for the housing has been thought necessary in order to provide, for example, dimensional stability when operating the hard disk drive. The slightest movement of what are intended to be fixedly secured components during operation of the hard disk drive can lead to its catastrophic failure.
Without mechanical spinning components therein, manufacturers of flash drives have taken advantage of the benefits of, for example, a plastic case for enclosure of the drive. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 7,301,776, which describes how metallic material used for top and bottom plates of the flash memory devices described therein can be replaced by plastic. However, such advantages have not yet been realized in hard disk drives where mechanical spinning components are employed.
In view of the number of potential problems impacting effective and long-term performance of hard disk drives, alternative methods and apparatus for hard disk drives are desired. Particularly desired are alternatives to conventional hard disk drives comprising metallic housings having internal components mounted directly on the base of the housing.